This invention relates to artificial aquarium plants, and more particularly to a plant having an improved anchor as well as an improved coupling between the plant member and the anchor.
Aquariums are finding increased use both professionally and by hobbyists. One of the features of an aquarium is to provide its beautification and decoration by means of plants. In order to avoid the need for sunlight and to avoid continuous contamination and cleaning, artificial plants are being utilized to simulate the appearance of natural plants. The simulated plants are anchored on a base member and generally positioned at the bottom of the tank where they are retained by weighted material. Some base members are themselves formed of heavy material to remain at the bottom of the tank. However, these are generally expensive, and awkward to manipulate and position in the tank.
The more popular types of simulated plants include a base member which is positioned at the bottom of the tank and utilizes the existing sand or gravel customarily used at the bottom of an aquarium as the anchoring material for the artificial plant.
Generally, the artificial aquarium plant includes a plant member which is coupled to the anchor. The coupling arrangement must be such as to facilitate assembly while yet remaining permanent once connected. Furthermore, it must also be of a type which cannot be easily separated by the movement of the fish or the water once positioned in the aquarium.
One such artificial aquarium plant is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,753 issued to the present inventor. In that patent, there is described a plant having a base member, and a simulated plant member connected to the base member. The base member includes an oval shaped base wall having a peripheral wall upwardly extending therefrom so as to form a dish-like container which can retain the sand or gravel and remain anchored at the bottom of the tank. The plant member is connected to the base member by means of a plug and socket arrangement with a hollow portion formed in the stem of the plant member which is retained in a hole formed in the base member. A plug is press fitted through the bottom of the base member into the hollow stem to retain the stem tightly wedged in the hole in the base member.
While the above described artificial aquarium plant provides an extremely useful device, there is still a need for providing an artificial aquarium plant which can be more easily installed in the aquarium. The aforementioned artificial plant must be positioned at the bottom of the aquarium and then sand or gravel filled into the oval dish. This frequently can disturb adjacent plants already secured in the bottom of the aquarium. Furthermore, while the coupling arrangement is easy to assemble, when pulling on the plant member while the base member is held at the bottom of the aquarium, the two parts could separate. Additionally, although the oval shape permits a compact arrangement by utilizing the uniqueness of the oval shape, the wide space at the major and minor axes of the oval require a separation between adjacent artificial plants which may prevent as dense an arrangement of plant life as is desired.